BoNcHiE
Every team's Elixir
- Joined
- Dec 16, 2004
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MNF has drawn it's lowest ratings the first three weeks since 2009 and has declined three straight years. Sunday primetime is down 12%. The afternoon games are also down (CBS is down 18%, Fox is down more slightly).
Everyone thinks it's only about the anthem protests. I don't buy it.
It's a convenient excuse to ignore the league's bigger problems which have gone unaddressed.
1) The officiating: It's awful, inconsistent, often biased, and at best seems to coincidentally coincide with betting angles far too often. The only way to fix it is by taking some of the power out of their hands but we all know that will never happen.
2) The Product on the field is somewhere between average and dog-crap: The lack of offseason practice has severely hurt the precision and quality of the game. Dropped passes at an all time high, communication issues, increased injuries, missed tackles, etc. Games 5 years ago were just better to watch.
3) The rules: PI calls are killing the defensive game. They influence games routinely. Who wants to keep watching a league in which their team's season is decided by a judgement call? But it happens to fan bases every year. Every time a game is decided that way, some number of fans tune out for the season.
4) Lack of elite QBs: The read option in college is beginning to strangle the NFL game. Yes, there are a few decent young QBs out there who win in their own way. But there are no new Brees/Bradys/Mannings in the pipeline (No, Luck and Wilson are not those guys). You've literally got dudes like Cody Kessler starting games and average QBs like Joe Flacco being considered great. When Cam Newton is a "star" QB, then you know it's crap overall and it's not getting better.
5) Lack of parity (not week to week, but seasonally): Any team can win every week, but that doesn't seem to translate to the postseason. The league is becoming more and more top heavy. It's nearly the same teams every year making the playoffs now. Certain historic, big market teams also seem to consistently get the calls they need to remain competitive, further destroying parity. There seems to be a concerted effort the past several seasons to ensure certain teams return to prominence.
Forget our woes. How do you think Browns fans feel? Jags fans? Bucs fans? Dolphins? Raiders? Chargers? Bills? Titans? Why would any fans of those teams still have any hope at this point? If I were a Browns or Titans fan, I'd of stopped watching years ago.
6) Roger Goodell: He's made too many enemies on all sides with fans. At some point, it starts to add up and people tune out. When 80% of fans hate the commissioner, it has to affect ratings.
7) Political stuff: Football is supposed to be an escape. Fans want to be able to watch a game or ESPN and not have to deal with the garbage of the political world and it's issues. Yet, more and more over the past few years, they've begun to mix in ways that turn people off. I won't name all the different ways as to avoid that argument. But you can come up with them on your own.
8) Health concerns and public perception: We know all the details, but I think the head injury stuff has made an impact and will get worse in the future. The more it becomes in vogue to pronounce football a backwoods game of stupid neanderthals, the more it will decline in favor of other games. The irony is that I don't think the rule changes on the field in this vein are an issue. I think emphasis on PI and Defensive holding has done much, much more damage to the game.
9) Lack of intriguing storylines: How many times can the fans of the other 31 teams care that the Patriots made a Super Bowl? This goes back to lack of parity.
Everyone thinks it's only about the anthem protests. I don't buy it.
It's a convenient excuse to ignore the league's bigger problems which have gone unaddressed.
1) The officiating: It's awful, inconsistent, often biased, and at best seems to coincidentally coincide with betting angles far too often. The only way to fix it is by taking some of the power out of their hands but we all know that will never happen.
2) The Product on the field is somewhere between average and dog-crap: The lack of offseason practice has severely hurt the precision and quality of the game. Dropped passes at an all time high, communication issues, increased injuries, missed tackles, etc. Games 5 years ago were just better to watch.
3) The rules: PI calls are killing the defensive game. They influence games routinely. Who wants to keep watching a league in which their team's season is decided by a judgement call? But it happens to fan bases every year. Every time a game is decided that way, some number of fans tune out for the season.
4) Lack of elite QBs: The read option in college is beginning to strangle the NFL game. Yes, there are a few decent young QBs out there who win in their own way. But there are no new Brees/Bradys/Mannings in the pipeline (No, Luck and Wilson are not those guys). You've literally got dudes like Cody Kessler starting games and average QBs like Joe Flacco being considered great. When Cam Newton is a "star" QB, then you know it's crap overall and it's not getting better.
5) Lack of parity (not week to week, but seasonally): Any team can win every week, but that doesn't seem to translate to the postseason. The league is becoming more and more top heavy. It's nearly the same teams every year making the playoffs now. Certain historic, big market teams also seem to consistently get the calls they need to remain competitive, further destroying parity. There seems to be a concerted effort the past several seasons to ensure certain teams return to prominence.
Forget our woes. How do you think Browns fans feel? Jags fans? Bucs fans? Dolphins? Raiders? Chargers? Bills? Titans? Why would any fans of those teams still have any hope at this point? If I were a Browns or Titans fan, I'd of stopped watching years ago.
6) Roger Goodell: He's made too many enemies on all sides with fans. At some point, it starts to add up and people tune out. When 80% of fans hate the commissioner, it has to affect ratings.
7) Political stuff: Football is supposed to be an escape. Fans want to be able to watch a game or ESPN and not have to deal with the garbage of the political world and it's issues. Yet, more and more over the past few years, they've begun to mix in ways that turn people off. I won't name all the different ways as to avoid that argument. But you can come up with them on your own.
8) Health concerns and public perception: We know all the details, but I think the head injury stuff has made an impact and will get worse in the future. The more it becomes in vogue to pronounce football a backwoods game of stupid neanderthals, the more it will decline in favor of other games. The irony is that I don't think the rule changes on the field in this vein are an issue. I think emphasis on PI and Defensive holding has done much, much more damage to the game.
9) Lack of intriguing storylines: How many times can the fans of the other 31 teams care that the Patriots made a Super Bowl? This goes back to lack of parity.